And it's back to, as Oliver put it, normalcy. Except this normalcy involves a needle-like hacker in a city-sized haystack.

Enjoy the first part of "Divided!"

***

Cayden watched the last man exit his target's office, then strode forward. Behind him, Diaz and Evelyn exchanged glances before following.

When they entered the office, the man reclining at his desk scowled at them. "Who the hell are you?"

"Someone," Cayden answered, tilting his head from side to side. "Important."

"Real important," Diaz smirked, leaning against the wall.

"You don't look it," the man scoffed. "How'd you get past my men?"

"They thought they saw a bigger threat," Evelyn answered sweetly.

The man raised an eyebrow, looking her over before dismissing her and looking back at Cayden when he spoke. "Jerry Bertinelli of the eponymous crime family and the last of his kind. The rest of your family is either dead or incarcerated."

"You writing a book?" Bertinelli snorted.

"I have heard that sometimes ships appear on your docking manifest but never actually arrive," Cayden continued.

"Sometimes, ships arrive and never end up on the docking manifest," Diaz added.

"That's very profound," Bertinelli smirked. "If the price is right, maybe – maybe – we can facilitate a few things."

"No, I'm afraid you misunderstand," Cayden shook his head. 'We want to buy you out."

"I got a feeling you're not hearing me," Bertinelli snarled, standing up. "Port's not for sale. Take a walk."

Diaz suddenly stood up, reaching under his coat. Bertinelli responded, drawing a gun quickly, but in the process, turned his back on Evelyn. The girl launched a dark grey dart at his neck, and Bertinelli yelped, dropping his gun and clapping a hand on top of his neck, sinking the dart in deeper. He groaned in pain, and Evelyn sauntered forward, placing her hands flat on the desk and leaning in close. "I guess you thought you saw a bigger threat, too," she smiled, watching his eyes cloud over as the sedative sunk in.

"You have forty-eight hours to consider our proposal," Cayden informed him. He turned to leave, then paused and looked back. "Don't you have a daughter attending Columbia University?"

"I've always wanted to visit New York," Evelyn beamed.

Cayden headed out the door first, and Diaz held out his hand, gesturing Evelyn out first. Evelyn nodded back, and Diaz spared Bertinelli one last look before bringing up the rear.

***

"Well, if nothing else, we've set the new record for most arrows made in a day."

Oliver couldn't help but snort in amusement as he double checked the arrow he'd just made. "Pretty sure that's a single person record to make, Malcolm."

"Well, one of us has to have beaten that," Malcolm smirked, carefully checking the tip of one of his arrows. He winced when he pricked his finger, setting it down again. "Which one of us, though, that's the question."

"I'm not counting," Felicity called drowsily from where she was sitting down and leaning against one of the columns in the base.

The elevator doors dinged open, making all three look over. Laurel was the first out, and she took one look at Felicity and giggled. "Long night?"

"You have no idea," Felicity nodded.

"Who won the arrow making contest?" Slade raised an eyebrow.

"Debating," Malcolm called back.

"Never was a competition," Oliver threw him a look.

Slade snorted. "It'll be one where the wizard's concerned."

"First off, magician," Malcolm narrowed his eyes. "Second, says the other one who keeps score during our battles!"

"If everyone's done," Dig cut in, entering and holding up a cardboard tray of coffee. "Looks like at least one of you needs this."

"Oh, John Diggle," Felicity groaned in relief, slipping her glasses back on. "Savior of souls and bringer of java."

"Mmmhmm," Dig smirked as Laurel and Slade took their drinks, holding a hand out to help her up.

"Oh, thank you," Felicity nodded, taking his hand.

"I have been called," Dig nodded back, walking down to give the other two drinks to the archers. "I guess I have to find ways to be useful. You're all working overtime trying to find Cayden James, and I'm still on the disabled list."

"Well, not for long," Felicity shook her head. "Curtis is on his way over, and we will fix you. We have the technology."

"Ha," Dig snorted, taking a sip of his drink. "I'm not the six million dollar man."

"Not yet, you're not," Felicity shook her head. "And more like 2.24 million dollar man because Curtis and I are stretching pennies with Helix Dynamics as it is." She looked down when her phone beeped and vibrated, then picked it up and checked who contacted her. "Oh, speak of the devil, that little psychic. Oh," she blinked. "He's early. He'll be here soon."

"Who's early?" Oliver called as he put his arrows away.

"Curtis," Dig answered.

"You look like you could use a break, kid," Slade frowned, looking him up and down. "Should you be getting home?"

"Yeah, Raisa must be making quadruple overtime by now," Felicity agreed.

"Raisa's doing fine, and Kara's with William right now," Oliver shook his head. "I mean, Williams loves both of them, so – "

"And William doesn't know you're here," Laurel raised an eyebrow.

"I know," Oliver winced. "And I don't like it, but we need to find Cayden James. Are we making any progress on that front?"

"Despite my 21st consecutive all-nighter?" Felicity sighed. "No. He's either the first bad guy to ghost us, or he's just biding time."

"I'd go for the second," Malcolm shook his head. "He's smart enough for both, but he seems to be the guy to – "

"Savor the anticipation," Slade drawled.

"What did you just say?"

"His words, not mine."

"Boys," Laurel glared at them.

"What about Evelyn?" Oliver asked.

"Another strikeout," Felicity shook her head. "I can't track her cry, and Cayden must have inserted some sort of Trojan into the software. It's confusing our facial recognition algorithms. I cannot find her."

Oliver sighed. "All right. We will continue with the low tech option, and I will go out there again tonight."

"Or the other low tech option," Malcolm folded his arms. "I will go out there tonight, and take one of the others with me so you finally get more than just a nap in."

"Kid, you are playing Russian roulette every time you go out there," Slade reminded him. "The FBI investigation still isn't going away."

"And need we remind you about the anti-vigilante law?" Laurel tilted her head.

"I'm not worried," Oliver shook his head. "You should not be either. The six of us, we will solve this problem together."

Malcolm sighed. "Are we gonna go there?"

Slade just turned his head and looked at Laurel expectantly. "I'll call Kara," she nodded, pulling out her phone.

Oliver froze on his way to the elevator, then gave them a nasty look. "That's cold."

"Warmer than the weather in Star City will be tonight!" Laurel called over her shoulder, scrolling through her contacts.

"Stay home, Oliver," Malcolm told him. "It's not just you in the field. We can do this for one night."

Oliver glared, but there was no heat in it. Finally, he sighed and nodded. "Thank you," he told them gratefully.

"Any time, kid," Slade nodded as Laurel smirked, putting her phone away.

Oliver turned to get in the elevator when the doors suddenly slid open, and Oliver stopped short when he saw who was inside. "Like your haircut," the occupant stammered, smiling nervously. "It's nice."

"I didn't get a haircut," Oliver deadpanned, making Laurel snort before covering her mouth with her hand. "Curtis, it's fine. I'm really appreciative that you're helping John."

Curtis blinked in surprised as he exited, turning to watch Oliver get in. "No hard feelings?"

Oliver raised an eyebrow as he pushed the button he wanted. "No."

Curtis did a double take, watching the doors close, then turned to the others. He gulped when he was met by three steely looks, two others more sympathetic. "Anyone ever tell you three you're as scary as hell?" he asked meekly.

"If they haven't, we're not doing our job correctly," Laurel said sweetly.

"I'll suit up," Malcolm smirked as he turned around.

"Agreed," Slade gave Curtis one last look, following behind Malcolm.

Laurel gave Curtis a smirk before she went the other way, towards where comms devices were stored. Curtis visibly relaxed when all three were out of view. "That wasn't super awkward."

Felicity exhaled slowly, turning around to her computer. "Let's get to work."

***

Quentin was looking through a file when he heard a knock on the door. "Yep!" he called.

"Hi," Thea smiled, poking her head in.

Quentin chuckled, setting the file down and standing up. "Look who it is. You know, you're still my assistant, you don't have to knock."

"Oh, please," Thea scoffed, giving him a quick hug. "I want to."

Quentin smiled, hugging her back. "I don't need anything right now, so . . . to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Uh, well," Thea sat down as Quentin leaned against his desk. "I heard you and Ollie are now down one assistant?"
"Yeah," Quentin snorted. "Developed some trust issues with him."

"Yeah, Ollie told me you fired him."

"Yeah, about that," Quentin frowned, looking at her. "He also mentioned that you wanted to . . . what, err on the side of forgiveness?"

"Yeah," Thea nodded. "I mean, look. You know, everyone makes mistakes, and I – I totally get why you did what you did, but I just feel like it might come across bad for optics. It . . . it might look like you're retaliating against a whistleblower."

"Yeah, I hear what you're saying," Quentin nodded, standing up and heading back to his seat. "But, Thea . . . Oliver shouldn't have to work shoulder to shoulder with a guy who's testifying against him."

"Doesn't mean you're not still down an assistant," Thea pointed out.

"Yeah," Quentin grimaced. "Well, actually, I hired a replacement this morning."

"Oh," Thea blinked.

"What I could really use," Quentin leaned forward, "is a Chief of Staff." He smirked as Thea blinked. "Up for a promotion?"

Thea grinned widely.

***

Laurel watched with an eagle eye as Curtis worked on Dig's arm, the man wincing as the former team member worked. "Almost there," Curtis promised, as if he could tell she was watching him in case he made a mistake. "Just slipping past the radial carpal."

"Yeah," Felicity nodded, checking the X-ray of Dig's arm.

"Boom!" Curtis finished, stepping back and clapping his hands once. "Chip implanted."

"That's it?" Dig asked in surprise. "That seemed simple."

"Yeah, for you," Felicity snorted. "I mean, making the chip, that was the hard – "

Laurel cringed when Felicity's words reverberated in the air, and everyone looked around, confused. "What was that?" Laurel asked.

"Some kind of electromagnetic frequency interference?" Curtis suggested.

"From the chip?" Dig asked worriedly.

"No, I doubt it," Felicity shook her head. "But – "

"It's probably nothing," Curtis shook his head. "All right, moment of truth . . . can you make a fist without the tremor?" Laurel stood up from her seat and walked over to see, and Dig looked down at his hand, closing his fingers to make a fist. He still had a tremor, and Laurel sighed, shaking her head. Curtis just took a deep breath. "Round two, el busto."

"You need to just stop pouring money into this," Dig shook his head. "Into me."

"You let us worry about the money, OK?" Felicity told him sternly. "We're gonna do this."

Curtis removed the chip, placing it in a test tube. "I can tinker with the design some more when I get home."

"Or you could do it here," Felicity offered.

"Heh," Curtis smiled nervously, looking at Laurel as she sat back and crossed her legs. "Hard pass. After this morning's awkwardness, I am good. See you guys!"

"See you," Felicity waved as he left, then looked at Laurel. "I think you scared him off."

"Just me?" Laurel snorted.

"Please tell me you can get Halo on that thing," Dig pointed to the big screen showing the X-ray of his arm. "If I have to go one more week without shooting a bad guy, I'm gonna bust."

"Funny," Felicity smiled. "I always pictured you like more a Call of Duty – "

The electronic reverberation was back, and Laurel turned her head sharply, trying to figure out where it was coming from. Dig blinked, looking at Felicity as she blanched and reached for her phone. "What?" he asked in concern as she quickly texted.

"Your phone," Laurel hissed, pulling hers out as it chimed.

Dig reached for his, too, and they both watched Felicity's two messages pop up: Signal interference, followed by I think we've been bugged.

***

"Anastas, who collared this guy?" Dinah asked in disbelief as she walked up to an officer pulling in a guy in handcuffs. "We've had a warrant on him for weeks!"

"Nobody," Anastas shook his head. "He just up and turned himself in five minutes ago."

"Turned himself in," Dinah repeated incredulously.

"It's crazy," Anastas nodded, leading him off. "Fifth one this week. Like all of a sudden, these bad guys grew a conscience."

Dinah stopped when she saw a familiar face move past the window, and she narrowed her eyes, heading out into the hallway. "Did you like my presents?" her visitor smirked.

"What are you doing here?" Dinah sighed, walking past him.

"Seeing you," Vincent answered, walking at her side.

"You know, anybody in this office could arrest you," Dinah warned. "Hell, I could arrest you."

"For what?" Vincent quizzed. "I'm a Central City police officer. The only rap on me is that I am presumed dead." He tilted his head thoughtfully. "Then again, I was an undercover, so that death is probably bogus," he mused.

"The Vigilante put the fear of God in these guys," Dinah hissed.

"At least the Vigilante isn't killing them," Vincent countered.

Despite herself, Dinah smirked. "Most guys just send flowers."

"How about a stroll by the pier instead?" Vincent offered. "Tomorrow, after your shift ends?"

Dinah considered, then smiled. "Sure."

"OK," Vincent smiled back, walking past her towards the door.

***

"There," Kara pointed past Oliver.

He nodded and drove his motorcycle over to where Dig and Felicity were waiting, Kara clinging to his waist. He parked a few feet away from them, shutting his bike down and climbing off, holding his hand out to help Kara off. They took their helmets off before walking over as Dig and Felicity got out of their car. Before either of them could speak, however, Felicity held a finger to her mouth, telling them to be quiet. She held up a handheld device and ran it over Oliver first, then scanned Kara. Oliver raised an eyebrow at Dig questioningly, but he just shook his head as Kara patiently waited. After Felicity was done, she sighed in relief and turned it off. "Clear."

"What's going on?" Oliver got right to the point.

"We've been compromised," Dig answered bluntly.

"What?" Kara balked as Oliver did a double take.

"Curtis brought down some equipment into the bunker for John's implant," Felicity explained. "We got massive signal interference. We got lucky."

"All those months ago, when Talia and Evelyn infiltrated the bunker," Dig began.

"They stole one of Curtis's T-spheres," Oliver nodded. "James had it on him back at Starling Stadium."

Dig nodded as well. "We were so focused on what they could have taken, we never thought about what they could have left behind."

Oliver's eyes widened. "Like a bug?"

"Exactly," Dig confirmed grimly.

"That means he's been watching the bunker for months!" Kara squeaked, eyes wide.

"I got it on loop," Felicity promised. "Audio and visual of the bunker. He doesn't know that we know."

"Slade?" Oliver pressed. "Malcolm, Laurel?"

"She suited up and went to find them," Felicity nodded. "They'll know."

"I spoke with Lyla," Dig told them. "She said we can use A.R.G.U.S. for the time being."

"That's smart," Oliver nodded gratefully.

"No, smart is Cayden James being one step ahead of us from the very jump, Oliver," Dig shook his head.

"I hate to belabor the depressingly obvious, but secret identities?" Felicity looked between all of them. "No longer secret."

"Me and my team," Kara closed her eyes. "Where we come from."

"Slade being in the city, and two well-known deceased are actually alive," Oliver seethed.

"Rao, this is giving me a headache," Kara pinched the bridge of her nose.

Felicity looked down at her phone when it beeped. "The block between 74th and Jansen just lost their security signal uplink," she frowned. "That doesn't just happen on its own."

"Cayden James," Dig guessed.

Oliver tensed, but Kara put her hand on his chest. "Let me," she said quietly. "I'll find the others, we'll handle it."

"I'll let them know," Felicity nodded.

Oliver sighed, but nodded. "Be careful."

Kara nodded and gave him a quick kiss, then headed for the nearest alley, taking off her glasses and unbuttoning her coat.

***

When Kara flew down to find the building the lost signal was traced to, she found three figures standing on the opposite building. "Do we have anything?" she asked, hovering down to join them.

"Not much," Malcolm shook his head. "But someone's definitely in there."

"One?" Kara arched an eyebrow.

"One," Malcolm confirmed.

"James isn't a fighter," Slade told Kara. "He'd have someone else with him for muscle."

"So he sent someone else for him?" Kara frowned.

"Or he's decided to be stupid," Laurel offered her opinion.

"I doubt that, Siren," Malcolm snorted.

"All right," Kara took a deep breath. "Let's get this handled. Oliver isn't here, but I'd rather get back so I make sure he gets some sleep."

"About time he got some," Slade grumbled, but nodded as Kara grabbed him by his bandolier.

She took off in one direction, and Malcolm shot off a grappling arrow, then extended an arm to Laurel. "Hold on."

Laurel wrapped an arm around his neck as Malcolm put his around her waist, then they jumped off the building, swinging towards the other side of the building.

***

Kara frowned as she and Slade cautiously made their way through the building. "It really is just one person," she reported.

"Is it James?" Laurel asked.

"Evelyn, Talia?" Malcolm added.

Kara frowned, using her X-ray vision. "No. None of them."

"So who wants our attention this desperately?" Slade wondered.

Kara raised her hand, and Slade tensed, reaching down and drawing one of his guns. Kara slowly walked into the main office area, then stopped when Slade entered behind her. "I can see you!" she called.

There was a moment of silence, then a man in a suit stepped out, hands raised. Kara heard the click of a safety release behind her, but before she could do anything, the man started talking. "Hey, hey, hey, hey, can you stand down? I just needed to get your attention."

"Obviously," Slade drawled, but he didn't lower his weapon.

"It worked," Kara narrowed her eyes.

"I was kind of expecting your friend," the man continued. "But all of you are hard to find. You ever consider a website? Maybe a spotlight in the sky? You know, a big silhouette of an arrow or that S on your chest?"

"You wanted our attention, and you got it," Kara interrupted. "What for?"

The man stepped into the light, hands still up, and Slade finally lowered his gun when he saw he was unarmed. "You, uh . . . you know who I am?" the man asked.

"Jerry Bertinelli." The man jumped, startled, and spun around, watching Malcolm walk into the room, the archer putting away the arrow he had nocked, Laurel slinking in behind him, her hair and new mask hiding her face. "Member of the Bertinelli Syndicate," Malcolm explained for Kara.

"I am the Bertinelli Syndicate," Bertinelli corrected, nodding and turning back to Kara. "At least, what's left of it. And I can't go down without a fight."

"I know the Bertinelli history," Kara scowled. "Why do you want us here?"

"Just hear me out," Bertinelli held up his hands placatingly. Kara folded her arms and raised an eyebrow, waiting for his response. "Look, I never actually wanted to get in this life, you know? But we do certain things for family, am I right? Now the ports, these docks, it's all we got left, and last night, these people came over and threatened to take it from me. You know, some dweeb in glasses, a thug, a college girl. I mean, you know them?"

Kara saw Malcolm and Luarel exchange glances. That accounted for Cayden James and Evelyn Sharpe. What about the thug? "Maybe," she finally answered.

"Yeah, no, I figured you might," Bertinelli snorted. "They're looking to control the docks."

"So talk to your cousin," Malcolm scoffed. "Sounds like business she'd love."

"She's been underground, so I'm asking you," Bertinelli told Kara. "And the green archer."

"Are you seriously asking us to help you win a turf war?" Laurel asked in disbelief.

"What are you thinking?" Slade asked.

"I'm thinking you're the enemy of my enemy, which makes us allies," Bertinelli answered.

Kara narrowed her eyes. On the one hand, she knew the Bertinelli history. He could be playing them, for all they knew. On the other hand, this was the first lead they had on James for a long time. "What do you have?" she finally asked.

***

You really forget how much fun you have with Slade Wilson and Malcolm Merlyn until they're back in their home city. Wow. XD

Hopefully this is a good start, everyone! And yes, I did give Black Siren a mask.  No use having her go out if all sorts of criminals recognize the face of Laurel Lance.

Next part will probably be out over the weekend! Here's hoping to avoid more burnouts. *crosses fingers*